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Windows 7: restoring backed up files problem after system restore

Hi Everyone,
I have a HP pavallion running windows 7 home prem 64 bit and its about to drive me nuts. Initially it came with vista prem 64 bit but was eligible for the win7 upgrade which I obviously did. we had a power outage here and the computer would not boot up, after powering it up it woudl go to a blank screen with the flashing _ in the upper corner but you could not type anything ...it just sat there. finally I hit f11 and started a system restore using the HP restore wizard. It suggested I make disk to save all my files which I did ( took several hours to do) then it restored the computer back to windows vista, like out of the box. I then ran the win 7 upgrade disk I got from HP for the upgrade and that worked fine and now its like a win7 out of the box computer. I put in disk 1 of the 3 it made for backup thinking it would put all my files back in like music, photos favorite places ect . As soon as I inserted 1 it told me to insert 3, then shortly after that to put 1 in again and it started doing whatever it is it does. After several hours again I now have an icon on my desktop titled shortcut to system recovery....when I click on it open up it doesnt run anything...just goes to a window that shows C filefolder and restorewiz text doc. I am sure I am not explaining this entirely correct but really need help recovering my files.....any help would be greatly appreciated.

It suggested I make disk to save all my files which I did ( took several hours to do) then it restored the computer back to windows vista, like out of the box.............I am sure I am not explaining this entirely correct but really need help recovering my files

You say "It suggested I make disk to save all my files which I did".

Did you take that to mean your personal files, as opposed to Windows or programs?

If you put those disks you made into the DVD drive, what appears to be on them?

Do you have previously made independent backups of your personal files, such as on an external drive, a series of DVDs, a USB drive, or an image file?

It suggested I make disk to save all my files which I did ( took several hours to do) then it restored the computer back to windows vista, like out of the box.............I am sure I am not explaining this entirely correct but really need help recovering my files

You say "It suggested I make disk to save all my files which I did".

Did you take that to mean your personal files, as opposed to Windows or programs?

If you put those disks you made into the DVD drive, what appears to be on them?

Do you have previously made independent backups of your personal files, such as on an external drive, a series of DVDs, a USB drive, or an image file?

when it first prompted me to make the backup disk there was a list of items like photos, music and other things to back up that all had check marks already in the box beside the items to back up...i left them all checked....it probably took 3 to 4 hours to make all 3 disk ( dvd-r's) it said it would take something like 11 or 15 cd's, thats why I did dvd-r's. Now after the system restore to vista ( as delivered by factory) then upgrading back to win 7 when I put these recovery disk 1, then 2 and 3 in I could see the files downloading back into my computer under that status bar, I recognized photo files that had names , itunes track files ect. so it had to save those files and their in my computer in the shortcut to system recovery files thats on my desktop....well I believe that where all the stuff was going anyway...problem is I cant get them out of that file and cant see them ...but like I said, as I was watching the data coming off the disk I could see photo names , you would think the HP recovery wizard or whatever its called can take things out like photos music and such that it would put it back where it got it from....guess thats too much to ask huh...LOL!

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